No company retains every customer they do business with. There is a natural ebb and flow of customers over time, whether your company provides a product or a service. Understanding that ebb and flow is important. Calculating the lifetime value of your customers, anticipating potential losses and determining how much time and effort to spend on prospecting for new customers are all very important elements of running any business. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Customer Service’
They Might Come Back: Why It Pays to Treat Exiting Customers Well
Thursday, July 20th, 2017
The “Five P’s” of Social Care: Monitoring and Managing Online Chatter
Tuesday, June 20th, 2017In an article for the American Marketing Association (AMA) titled “How Effective Is Social Media Marketing at Driving Brand Loyalty?”, Lawrence Crosby discusses the numerous ways in which social media can be used as a great tool for increasing customer engagement and – hopefully, as a result – customer loyalty. Much of the article deals with customer engagement in terms of creating online communities and serving up useful content to keep customers coming back to your business through its various channels, online and otherwise. (more…)
Do You Know When—And Why—Your Customers Have Left You?
Thursday, May 18th, 2017
Every business will gain and lose customers over the course of the business’s lifetime. Of course the hope is that there will be more gains than losses; however, sometimes businesses find themselves in the opposite situation and struggle to understand why their customers are leaving. While creative companies could come up with a myriad of creative and complex metrics and measurement techniques to try to gain some insights, one of the best ways to determine why customers are lost is to ask them! (more…)
You’re Fired! It Works for Customers Too.
Thursday, January 12th, 2017
Sometimes clichés can become so pervasive that we fail to think critically about their meaning or the full implications of the statement. A classic example in business, generally, and customer service, specifically, is “the customer is always right.” To state the obvious, the rationale is that no matter how difficult, rude and unreasonable a customer may be, that customer is paying the bills — and you should do whatever it takes to make that customer happy. (more…)
Are You Creating, or Removing, Barriers for People to Buy Your Product/Service?
Tuesday, May 10th, 2016Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as businesspeople and marketers is to “put ourselves in the shoes” – literally – of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however “slight,” that may interfere with – or obliterate – the purchasing process? (more…)
It’s All About the Brand, ‘Bout the Brand, No Bull$#!!
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015I responded to a reporter’s query recently wondering about whether companies in industries with historically “poor” reputations (e.g. airlines, cable companies, telephone providers, etc.) are hindered because they serve as a “middleman” for consumers to access their services and that they may purposefully decide to just suck it up, accept the fact that they will never be able to satisfy their customers and, therefore, cut back on the costs of providing exceptional service. My short answer: “No.”
Here’s why, and what I think is really at play here. (more…)
How Will You Make Your Audience Want To?
Tuesday, January 13th, 2015I’m a big fan of EContent, a media outlet that focuses on content related to digital publishing, media and marketing. They have a number of very influential contributors* who write about trending topics, and useful strategies and tactics to help readers succeed in the online world.
It’s one of the many media outlets that I try to read as often as I can. Recently, when browsing through the topics on their homepage, I came across a piece by Theresa Cramer, the editor of EContent: Lessons From Serial: The Myth of the Shrinking Attention Span. I found it to be a very thought-provoking piece, and I was especially struck by one particular line in the piece: (more…)
The Critically Important Audience You May Be Overlooking
Monday, November 24th, 2014It’s probably no surprise that poor customer service can have an enormous amount of negative impact on your business. But what about poor service to employees? Does the internal satisfaction of your employees weigh on that metric? A recent article by Christine Porath in Harvard Business Review would suggest that it does. (more…)
A Wake-Up Call to the Newspaper Industry
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014I had an experience recently that made me think: “Hmmm. Maybe this is one of the reasons the newspaper industry is struggling.”
After landing a new account recently, I began setting up my files and processes for gathering information about the client and sources of information that would help me stay on top of issues impacting them externally. This generally includes some combination of online sources, industry trade publications, etc. In this case, because of the type of business the client does, I decided to subscribe to the local paper because I wanted to add it to my morning reading ritual.
So, I went online to their website to subscribe. And that’s when the fun began. (more…)
Are You Giving Your All To Your Current Customers?
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014A number of years ago I was on a weekend outing with my husband and a group of his friends, including one guy who had recently gotten engaged to a “knockout.” She was gorgeous–long, really long, blonde hair; perfect make-up; great nails, dressed exceptionally.
The rest of the women (well, maybe I’m projecting my own thoughts on the others, but…) thought: “Wow! How do we compare to that!!?!” Fortunately, she was one of the many beautiful women (and men) that I’ve met over the years who wasn’t really that “full of themselves.” Over the course of the weekend after many conversations, and a few cocktails from time to time, we got to talking. I admitted my awe about how well put together she was and my wish that I could be as well put together.
She laughed and said: “You should have seen me last week!” “What do you mean?,” I asked.
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